Happy Italian memories

Livorno, 2008

Banksy, the inherent contradiction of myth

In the run up to the Oscars, which saw Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop nominated for Best Documentary Feature, 3 new artworks appeared in the LA cityscape, created by anonymous guerrilla graffiti artist Banksy.  But there is an inherent contradiction in the work of the carnivalesque creative, who relies on the very myths he purports to challenge. Banksy’s optical references to the institutions he mocks rely upon a general knowledge and acceptance of that myth. The image of two British policemen embracing is one such example. The bastions of the British institution are denoted through a visual representation of the accessories, or signs, that surround them including batons, handcuffs, helmets and so on. For many, these institutional signs signify trust, honour and protection and combine to form the myth of the British policeman of which Barthes wrote in Mythologies. Such myths are the backbone of contemporary national identity. These immediately recognizable state representatives are undermined in carnivalesque spirit due to the situation in which they are presented, which contradicts the myth in general acceptance. In the same way that he requires the existence of public space as provided by the institution as the canvas for his graffiti, the effectiveness of the work relies on the existence of the myth to function, depending on its acceptance in order to undermine it. His pre-Oscar subversive works seem more an intelligent act of marketing than a subversive message. 

Portobello, Scotland. February 2011

Are museums our new churches?

Listen to Alain de Botton's ideas here